Fluorine-containing gases, including molecular fluorine, hydrogen fluoride, nitrogen trifluoride, etc., find a variety of uses as etchants and cleaning agents in semiconductor device fabrication processes. As these processes have advanced, the purity requirements of the process gases used has increased. For example, while older semiconductor fabrication processes could tolerate levels of moisture impurities in hydrogen fluoride in excess of 100 ppm, more recent processes require that moisture level be reduced to 10 ppm or less.
Because fluorine containing process gases are normally highly reactive, it is difficult to store them at high levels of purity for an extended period. Thus, there is a need for purification methods and systems that can purify the fluorine-containing gases as they are flowing between a storage container and the point of use. These and other problems are addressed by embodiments of the present invention.